


Soul Love

by etherealabyss



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff and Smut, Getting to Know Each Other, Light Angst, M/M, Online Dating, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Texting, They all live, Trust Issues, communication problems, regulus is harry's age, remus is a waiter, sirius is an artist, the kids are besties, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:35:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29767341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etherealabyss/pseuds/etherealabyss
Summary: When Sirius Black, heir of the great Black family, moves to Blackpool with his baby brother after the death of his parents in order to escape from the public and becomes an artist, Remus Lupin could have never known that he would fall head over heels in love with the caretaker of his mate's son's new kindergarten friend. He also could not have known that the paintings he would never shut up about were painted by the same person he would fall for.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 29
Kudos: 47





	1. Moonage Daydream

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! i'm back after a while of not uploading anything. i wanted to write something more complex, so this is me trying. i hope you enjoy it. please make sure to tell me your thoughts in the comments. if you find any mistakes, don't be too harsh - english isn't my first language. also, the story and all of the chapters are named after David Bowie songs. that man currently occupies my mind lol

“What are the specials today again?” the blonde, short woman sitting at table three asked Remus with a concerned look on her face. They had been going through the menu to figure out what she would like to order for ten minutes now and Remus was getting a little impatient, but having worked as a waiter for nearly four years, Remus knew two things: always smile, even if you don’t want to, and be kind, no matter how much of a bitch the customer is. After all, if you treated them like royalty, they would tip well.

“Today’s specials are cream of garlic soup as a starter, a vegetarian lasagna as the main dish and carrot cake for dessert – the cake is my favourite we serve if I might add” Remus smiled and took out his small notepad that he had almost squeezed to death while the woman kept complaining about the variety of chia puddings they served.

“I think I’ll just go with that then. And it’s all nice, you say?”

“Oh, very much so. Our chefs never disappoint”

With a quick nod and an affirming smile, Remus waltzed off, taking a deep breath after having argued with the lady for what felt like forever. He loved being a waiter, he really did, but people like that woman made his days harder than they needed to be.

“Today’s special for table three,” he mumbled as he put the order into the computer for the chefs to start preparing the food. Frankly, he wasn’t sure if it would be any good, but who was he to decide?

“You look like shit, Remus,” a voice emerging from the staff room said as Remus looked up from the register.

“Good day to you too, Marlene,” Remus yawned. Marlene was his boss and closest friend. When they finished school, her parents were kind enough to let them work at their restaurant “Dumbledore’s” during the summer, but both of them enjoyed their time too much to want to leave. They were naturals at waiting and serving food, the two being very charming in general, so it didn’t take them long to convince Marlene’s parents to employ them full time. They had both retired two years after that, leaving the restaurant in Marlene’s hands. Marlene’s girlfriend Yaz gave up her job as a columnist to help them out and ended up becoming co-owner of the restaurant.

Sometimes Remus wondered if she missed her old job but quickly remembered that she worked for the worst gossip magazine in all of England and had to write about every single Justin Bieber escapade, so he figured that she was better off now anyway.

He never wanted to become the owner of the restaurant, even after multiple hour-long conversations with Marlene about how beautiful codependency could be. He could not be convinced. Marlene made him headwaiter anyway, hating how hard Remus made it for himself sometimes. Secretly he was glad that she cared about him as much as she did. It reminded him that he was not alone in the world.

“When was the last time you slept properly? Three months ago?” Remus rolled his eyes. It had not been that long. A month, maybe. Maximum. Or had it been longer?

“Today’s just been stressful, Marls. I can’t wait to nap”

Marlene giggled at his comment. Her blonde hair was neatly tucked behind her ears, accentuating her many earrings.

“Two more hours, mate,” Marlene told him as she walked past the counter and put the loose change she had in the tips jar while patting Remus’ shoulder. “You can do this, it’s Friday anyway, you can sleep in tomorrow”

“Yeah, but only because I work the nightshift, but I make great money on the weekends, so I’m not complaining”

The next hours were horrible. The woman was unhappy with everything she had ordered and tried to send it all back after having eaten half of each meal. Remus didn’t know if he should yell at her or start crying. He couldn’t wait for it to be four.

“There you go, look at you. You did well today,” Yaz smiled gleefully as Remus took off his waiter-apron.

“Thanks, mum,” Remus answered sarcastically and rolled his eyes. He loved their love for him, but he wasn’t a child anymore. He didn’t need to be treated like one for achieving basic tasks.

“Anytime,” Yaz grinned. She was getting ready to take over his position after having finished god knows how many cigarettes. How her lungs weren’t black as the night sky, he didn’t know. He couldn’t be bothered to give it more thought, though. It wasn’t his body, so why bother worrying about it? She knew what she was doing anyway. Not that he was any better. His go-to-outfit consisted of a green turtleneck, black skinny jeans, and a pack of Marlboro Reds from ages 16 to 21.

“Alright, I’m off,” Remus announced as he put the large jeans jacket over his brown sweater and gave Marlene a kiss on the cheek who was currently rearranging the wine glasses. He maneuvered through the restaurant, not wanting to gain any unwanted attention, blew Yaz a kiss across the room, and left.

The wind almost blew off his beanie as he stepped onto the pavement, so he pulled it further down, covering half of his head with the warm cotton. Remus put his headphones into his ears and played a random The Cure album so that he had a soundtrack to dance-walk to as he would make his way to pick up his best mate’s son from kindergarten.

James and Remus met in school. Remus remembered the other boy wearing ridiculously large, yellow glasses that made him laugh whenever he looked at him. One day James confronted him about it, saying that Remus had an overbite, which offended the blonde greatly, so they quarreled until their form teacher had to pull them apart and sit them on the opposite sides of the classroom. Remus didn’t want to look up from the worksheet they were currently working on because the other boy made him angry, but when he saw that the Indian boy was making silly faces towards his direction, he couldn’t stop himself from grinning. They ended up playing multiple rounds of who could make the other laugh the hardest until Mrs. Thompson would lose her cool. They were inseparable ever since.

“UNCLE REMUS!!!” he heard Harry shout from the inside of the building as he approached the building. It had become routine for him to pick up Harry after work. Remus lived ten minutes away from the Potters, and since James was a writer who couldn’t keep up with a normal time schedule for the life of him and Lily was a teacher who tended to forget how much time had passed since she started planning the next lessons, they came to the mutual agreement that Remus would pick up Harry, walk him home, stay with him until either of them were home, maybe (or, to be honest, definitely) stay for a drink and then head home. He loved spending time with Harry. The boy looked up to him as if he were a God. Remus didn’t mind. It only made him love the boy more.

“Hey, Mini-Prongs!”

Harry ran into Remus’ legs the second he had entered the colourfully painted building. His tiny arms were wrapped around his calves as if his life depended on it.

“Hey, Uncle Remus! I built this giant lego house, I’ll show you” the boy announced, let go of the adult, took Remus’ large finger into his tiny hand, and guided him to the play area.

Remus greeted the staff and nodded his head at Peter, the head of the staff, who was also a friend of his from school before he could give his full attention to the small kid. When they arrived at their destination, Harry pointed at the rather abstract-looking blob of legos and smiled proudly. Remus’ heart melted.

“Scoot closer, I’ll take a picture for dad” Remus pulled out his phone and snapped a couple of pictures of the boy next to his work. He looked exactly like his dad. It was almost uncanny. The green eyes he got from Lily, though. They made him special.

“Ready to go, mate?” the tall blonde asked and received an enthusiastic nod as an answer. Harry quickly packed his backpack and said goodbye to all of his friends individually before they were heading back to the Potter’s house.

“.. and then the fireman fell down from the building and then Marc flew the helicopter into the building and then the building broke so we had to put it back up and Marc didn’t like it and Ms. Lisa said that he needed to apologise and he did and now we’re friends again” Harry concluded the newest kindergarten gossip and looked at Remus expectantly.

His glasses reminded Remus of James’ when they met as mere kids. Sometimes his heart skipped a beat when he remembered how fast the night changed. James was a married man now, and what was Remus? A twenty-four-year-old waiter who couldn’t hold onto a partner for more than a month until they got tired of him. He’d love to settle down like his mate, but maybe love just wasn’t for him. He wasn’t ready to accept that, though.

“Fascinating stuff, Haz” Remus smiled and heard Harry laugh in response to his comment as they walked through the streets of Blackpool.

“You would like Marc, Uncle Remus, he’s like Daddy just very smaller and he cries more” Harry explained and started running as he saw the entrance to their garden a few meters away.

Remus laughed. Befriending another four-year-old would definitely be something he thought would not happen in the near future. Maybe Marc would be a great dude in the future, though. Remus could make him soup with the letter-shaped-noodles while his new friend could tell him which new Playmobile set he got.

With that thought in his mind, he laughed to himself, put away his headphones, and unlocked the front door. Harry immediately let himself fall onto the couch.

“Finally,”, the boy sighed as if he had the longest day in the history of long days and spread his limbs across all of the cushions.

Remus sat down next to him and started to play with the little boy’s hair, knowing exactly what calmed him down. Soon Harry was almost purring under his touch and drooled onto his shirt. With nothing else to do, Remus put on a random kids tv channel and they ended up watching two SpongeBob episodes before Lily came home.

“My boooooooys” she sang and danced into the living room. Her beautiful ginger hair was braided into two, thick looking plaits on each side of her head.

“Hello, Mummy! Uncle Remus picked me up today!” Harry exclaimed and got up to hug his mother.

“I know, Harry, just like yesterday, and the day before, and two days ago, and ... anyway. Hey Remus-darling” Lily smiled fondly and kissed the top of Remus’ head as she walked past the couch, taking off her jacket on her way to the bedroom.

She put on a pair of joggers and one of James’ large rugby shirts before she emerged from the hallway and made her way into the kitchen, singing a random tune to herself.

“You have the prettiest Mummy in the whole wide world, do you know that Harry?” Remus nudged the little boy’s side as Patrick took a bite of a crabby patty on screen.

“Yeah, Daddy tells me every day” Harry shrugged with a neutral expression on his face.

“Care for a glass of Chardonnay, Remus?” he heard the mother shout from the other room. Lily knew how to make him happy.

“Do you need me to answer that?”

Lily laughed at his reply and put the pasta in the boiling water she had put up a few minutes ago. After a long day of work, she couldn’t be bothered to cook anything fancy and all of her men went crazy for her Pasta con Pesto Rosso so making a meal wouldn’t take long.

As if he knew his queue, James came home as Remus and Lily poured themselves their well-deserved wine.

“Hey, hot stuff” James grinned as he greeted his family.

“Hey to you too, Prongs” Remus smiled innocently as they toasted their glasses.

Harry laughed hysterically and climbed onto his chair, getting ready to eat. James chuckled and ruffled Remus’ hair. They all settled down a few seconds after and had finished the bottle of wine mid-dinner.

“Oh, also, I forgot to mention, Pavo posted a work in progress of his new painting” Remus said, his mouth full of pasta

“We don’t talk with a full mouth, remember?” Lily corrected him and raised her eyebrow. She was a great mother.

“Yes, sorry – anyway, it’s looking really cool” Remus swooned after having swallowed it all down.

Once he moved out of his parents’ house, he began to research abstract artists whose paintings he could buy. Remus spent days on end going through hundreds of websites until he found an artist’s work he fell in love with. It was a large piece of art that didn’t look like much to others but made his head spin slightly. It was breathtaking. Colours clashed, fought, and made love with each other all at the same time. Remus was speechless. The artist who created it was called Pavo. After doing some more digging, he could only find a website that sold Pavo’s work and prints, but there was nothing about the artist himself. As if they didn’t exist. That didn’t matter to Remus, though. He immediately screenshotted the painting and used it as his background picture on all of his devices. Only days later he had memorized the artist’s entire online shop. Something about the mysterious person intrigued him.

“Are you finally gonna get a print, then? It’s been a long time coming, mate” James took a swig of his wine before he looked at his blonde friend whose curly hair almost covered his eyebrows.

“I’m not sure yet, Prongs – what if they come out with other stuff that I like and then I spent all of my money on a print I don’t like as much as another?” Remus replied just before he finished his last bite of pasta.

“Remus, stop being so pessimistic, you know it gets the better of you. Oh, also, by the way, Harry, there’s a new boy coming to your kindergarten class!” James announced and looked at his little doppelgänger.

“How do you know?” Harry replied quickly.

Remus knew that more kids meant more gossip and he was ready for the tea to be spilled.

“Ms. Lisa sent out an email earlier today. His name is Regulus and his first day will be on Monday” the dad explained.

Harry nodded.

“I’ll introduce you to him, Uncle Remus” Harry yawned.

Remus laughed. Another four-year-old friend. Great.

They spent another hour chatting about life, love, old stories, new colleagues, horrible guests, estranged friends, and strange publishing offers until the clock struck eight and Remus knew he had to head home. Not that he didn’t love being at the Potters, he just really, desperately, needed the extra hours of sleep that night. If he hadn’t noticed how exhausted he was all day, he surely did now.

“See you on Monday” Lily yawned and kissed the blonde’s cheek before James pulled him in a big bear hug.

“Text me once you’re home,” James said and patted Remus’ shoulder as he put on his shoes. He loved them. He loved how they cared. Because he cared, too. They were his family.

“Alright, Prongs. Have a good night!”

Remus put on the same album he listened to as before and stretched his arms out. What a lovely evening it had been. He was so fortunate that his friends could brighten up his mood so easily.

Once he arrived at his tiny, studio apartment, he took off his jacket and shoes, texted his mate that he got home safe, put the kettle on, and showered. The water pressure was horrible, so he had to wait a few moments until he could clean his body.

Once he put on a fresh pair of underwear, he made himself some tea, got a fag, and sat down on his couch. He absolutely hated the place. It was way too old, way too ugly, way too shabby. It wasn’t really anything. If he knew any better, he wouldn’t call it home, but he moved in just after school and was too stubborn to give it up.

The telly in front of him was playing some shit dating show when Remus recalled the app, he saw in the papers the other day. ’Chatter’, it was called. With nothing going for him, he downloaded it two seconds after having thought about it. What was he gonna lose? A relationship he wasn’t in?

Soon after the app was downloaded, he made himself a profile.

As a profile picture he used a picture James had taken of him at the last Potter-family cookout with Euphemia’s puppy Fluffy. Remus was wearing a red, loose, button-down shirt with his sleeves rolled up and a pair of khaki shorts. A solid look, he thought to himself as he scrolled down and checked out which fields he still needed to fill out.

As a biography, he decided to go with the first thing that came to his mind.

“ **🧸🕺💐🌮🍱🍷🍾🎼**

**“Remus Lupin is one handsome bastard that will take your breath away. He’s amazing, you’ll love him” – Einstein or something**

**Looking for dates, not hookups. Don’t message me if you’re a Tory x** ”

Remus chuckled. He wasn’t sure if anybody would find his profile as funny as he did, but he found it hilarious. He’d swipe right on himself.

After having finished his cigarette and tea, he decided to call it a day. He couldn’t wait to finally get all of the sleep he had been missing out on for the last few days.


	2. Chapter Two: Rebel Rebel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius' backstory and how he ended up moving to the city he would later consider his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw! nightmares, physical and mental abuse, homophobia, mentions of puking, mentions of suicide

_Sirius felt as if he was about to choke. His throat kept closing up on him. The cold sweat that had covered his body kept pulling him down, making him feel heavy - as if he were about to drown in his own bed. Orion was stood next to him, beating his son mercilessly with his black, leather belt._

_“Fucking faggot,” the tall, scary-looking man hissed, continuing to whip the belt across his son’s chest and arms._

_“Please, Dad, stop!” Sirius cried out. He couldn’t do it anymore. He was weak. His heart was racing so fast he felt as if it was about to stop. Orion must have been 'teaching him a lesson' for over twenty minutes now. Sirius didn’t even have any tears left to cry. He was close to passing out. His vision was blurry, his skin was blue and green, and his forearms were covered in blood. The sound of leather clashing against his skin made him want to vomit._

_“Do not even think about seeing that boy again, ever, or his father will have regretted impregnating that whore of a woman twelve years ago,”_

_Sirius cringed at the threat but knew better than to react. Fabian, the boy in question, was in his Physics class and Sirius found liking in him once they were paired up for a project. They had only held hands at that point, but that itself had driven his father absolutely insane._

_Looking back at his father, Sirius tried not to make a sound. He couldn’t handle any more pain. All he could do was lay there and be quiet._

_“There you go, you queer - I do NOT want to hear from you again today until you come to apologise for your revolting escapade,” Orion announced before putting his belt back on, leaving the room with the loud, obnoxious sound of Sirius’ doors smashing shut as he stormed out._

Sirius shot up. Another fucking nightmare. He could not believe himself.

“Fuck,” he mumbled and ran his fingers over his face, rubbing his eyes harder than he probably should have.

Leaving London was the hardest thing he had done in his life. Sirius’ mother, Walburga, who was only 16 years older than him, had just given birth to his baby brother. Nobody expected her to get pregnant, but Orion was delighted about the news.

He never questioned their dynamic until he was put in school and realised that all of his friends had parents that weren’t almost his age and treated their children with ... care?

That thought kept him up at night at the young age of seven. Why wouldn’t his mum hug him the way he saw the other boys’ mums do it?

“Finally, a proper heir to the dynasty,” he used to say during lunch.

Sirius hated them from the bottom of his heart. He hated that his mother was so young, how beautiful of a life she could have had if she would not have fallen for that swine of a man. Orion’s ugly mug looked worse by each passing day. Sirius also never thought about being an older brother before. What were his duties? He knew that his friends had siblings, but they definitely couldn’t have told him everything about having a brother, right?

Once the baby was born, Orion had named him Regulus. How posh, Sirius thought as he sat on her mother’s side and held his baby brother in his arms. His eyes were bright and as the tiny infant was sleeping in his arms, Sirius felt hopeful. Maybe he would bring peace to the family. Maybe, just maybe, Sirius would like being the older brother.

Orion, being the asshole he was, insisted on going out just days after the birth of his second son. Being a notoriously famous rightwing politician, he had not told the public about his wife’s second pregnancy and was insistent on keeping it that way until the perfect moment struck where he could use the child for his advantage.

Sirius had just turned twenty when they died. Regulus on the other hand was just a few months old, sleeping soundly in his little crib that fateful Sunday evening while Sirius was tattooing random squiggles on his thigh to cover up the scars his father had given him when the news came.

Sirius was in utter shock. Not every day does one hear the news that ones parents drove their ridiculously expensive car into the wall of a tunnel while doing lines of cocaine on national television.

He felt no sorrow - his heart was filled with rage. How dare they leave the boy by himself? What kind of shit parents did they have to be to abandon their baby after only three months? What the fuck were they thinking? How ridiculously irresponsible of them! Fucking pathetic assholes!

And no, he knew that they didn’t do it on purpose. He was aware of that. Orion’s ego was too large for him to ever think about committing suicide. His head was too thick for that thought to form properly.

The days after their death were a blur to Sirius. Everything happened so fast. He inherited all of their money and belongings of which he donated almost everything. He kept the bare minimum, knowing that he could never forgive himself if he owned more of their money than what was necessary. The family’s lawyers absolutely despised his decisions – he actually got into some trouble with them along the way. After many court hearings, the judge decided to speak in favour of Sirius, who had the best possible judge he could think of: his uncle Alphard. They were never close, but he was different to the rest of his family. Alphard cared about him, and that’s what mattered. Alphard also cared about Sirius’ infant brother. Sirius then became the legal guardian of his younger brother and decided that he would do anything in his power to make sure that Regulus would turn out differently than the other Blacks.

After consulting Mary, a wonderful girl he befriended in primary school, he decided to put Reggie into a small nursery close to the flat they moved into. The flat itself was nothing fancy, a tiny one-bedroom apartment just outside of London, but it would do.

With the help of Mary and the kind ladies at the nursery, Sirius could soon take proper care of his brother. He was a fast and eager learner, wanting to perfect everything at once.

His best friend spent countless nights at his, helping him out, preparing meals or just being his emotional support person when being a guardian to a young blob of flesh and bones got too much.

It was hard for him to look Regulus in the eyes, for they were the exact same shade as Orion’s, but Sirius knew that despite his genes, Regulus would not have any similarities to his father in any other way than his looks. He would raise him to be a kind, loving individual. It would take a lot of time, strength and courage on Sirius’ side, but he would manage it. He could do it. He could do it for his Reggie.

Despite everything, despite all of the suppression and means of stopping Sirius from exploring his personality, he found his love for art at a very young age. Sirius spent days on end just painting horrible castles, ugly warriors, horrifying puppies and portrays of David Bowie that if one showed them to him, he’d be very offended, to say the least. But he loved it nonetheless. It was fun. It let him explore his creativity and was a way of expressing his thoughts to him. Over the years, he got better at what he loved most and began to explore all of the different kinds of art one could paint. Pointillism fascinated him, and so did Fumage. Anything that was extraordinary looking caught his eye.

After the whole Black family debacle, he decided to change his name. Not legally, of course, but he started to prefer being called Padfoot or Pads, a nickname Mary came up with when they were younger. Unlike the name Sirius, Pads made him feel safe. It reminded him of beautiful times, of times where he was with his loved ones and where he felt as if he was enough.

Something about Pads didn’t feel right when he signed his paintings though. Maybe it was because it hit too close to home, because it exposed something so dear to him to the world. Lost in thought, he tried to come up with a name that would be memorable but also left people confused when they would hear it. After two restless nights he finally found what he was looking for: His artist persona was going to be called Pavo.

When he was 21, he decided to pursue his love for art and opened up a website, hoping for the best. He spent all of the money he had (that wasn’t put aside for Reggie) in advertising and sat in front of his screen for days on end before he got the first few sales.

To say that he was excited was an understatement. He was fucking stoked and immediately got to work. Once he had decided on which painting style he could embody the best and give the Sirius Black twist, he could not be stopped.

Over the course of the next few months, he messaged every living person on all social medias, asking them to check out his stuff and if they were interested in promoting it. One can imagine how often he got reclined, but the few people that ended up agreeing to his rather hasty proposal ended up helping him out tremendously.

At one point he got 40 orders a day. He was very overwhelmed, to say the least.

Lucky for him, Mary was there to help him out. Her family consisted of artists and likeminded people, so she ended up not only helping him mix his paints and sending out the orders but got him a proper manager and someone who knew what they were talking about when it came to the art world. Sirius could not be happier to have her.

Once he had made enough money with his art, he started to book tattoo appointments. He did love he ones he had, they all represented a time of which he was proud to having had survived, but he needed something fresh, something new. Soon after, both of his arms, his torso and his thighs were covered in fine, black lines. Lions, snakes, guitars, axes, flowers, squiggles and many references were now part of his exterior. Some of the tattoos had meaning, some of them were just there for the sake of their existence, but Sirius loved them all equally. On the thumb of his right hand, he had a star tattooed that symbolized his name, but felt as if it were too cheesy to get the same motive on the other thumb as well. One day he would think of something to put on the empty space of his left thumb.

Once Regulus came to the age where he could go to kindergarten, Sirius made the executive decision to move away from London.

It was hard for him to come to that conclusion. He loved the city for all its dirty streets and disgusting smelling alleys, but knew that if Regulus wanted to live a happy life where he wasn’t surrounded by the Black family clan, they needed to leave.

Mary was at theirs when Sirius couldn’t decide on where to move for the life of him. He had never lived anywhere but London. Where did other people even live? Did they even have houses in other cities?

“Alright mate, I printed out this map of England for you, right, so you just take the chewing gum you’ve been assaulting for the last twenty minutes and throw it against it. The city it lands on will be your new home,” Mary put the large piece of paper on the empty space of the sibling’s living room with sellotape, making sure that the picture itself wasn’t covered and waited for her friend to follow her instructions.

Not batting an eye, Sirius took out the poor excuse of a chewing gum and aimed at the map. He couldn’t make out any of the cities, only remembering them by name, and threw the small, chewy, white substance in the map’s direction and closed his eyes. His heart was racing again. He knew that this was a very, very large step for him and Reg.

“Blackpool, huh?” he heard his friend say as he peeked through his closed eyes to check if the gum had reached the paper he was aiming at.

“Blackpool,” Sirius repeated. Blackpool was his new home.

“They have a great Zoo, I’ve heard,” Mary grinned while she walked up to Sirius and smiled at him fondly.

“I know that you are nervous, Pads, but that’s life. This is a good idea. A brilliant one, actually. Regulus will be happy, too. I promise. Now stop being stiff and give me a hug,”

Sirius had not realized how frozen he was until that point. His muscles felt as if they were sore from working out too much and his joints weren’t doing any better. He dried his sweaty palms off with the fabric of his jeans and then did as she told him.

It was one of his favourite sights: hugging his tiny, tiny best friend. Sirius stood at a whopping 6’4 and was covered in tattoos while Mary was an entire foot smaller than him and only had an infinity symbol on her left ankle. Hugging her brought him a lot of joy. Mary had a way of showing her love for one without actually showing it.

They stood there, holding each other for longer than they would like to admit. Neither of them had to say it, but they both knew that they would not get to see each other for a while now. Mary was going to stay in London to finish her studies, but Sirius would apparently move to the other side of England, knowing nobody in that tiny town. He wasn’t even sure if he was ready to leave.

Before he knew it, he stood in front of the large apartment building after having moved all of the boxes into the flat, holding Regulus’ hand in his left hand and the keys to their apartment on the top floor in the right.

“Ready, Reggie?” Sirius asked and raised his eyebrow at the toddler.

“I am hungry, Pads,” Sirius took a mental note of that and picked him up, covering the left side of his face with tiny kisses.

“Your rings tickle!” Regulus giggled and motioned Sirius to raise the hand that wasn’t occupied with carrying him and tried to pull off the metal bands.

Sirius chuckled, entered the building and took the elevator to get to floor four. He unlocked their front door and felt the cold air of the apartment send goosebumps all over his skin. He was home.

He spent both Tuesday and Wednesday unpacking, building furniture and playing with his little brother before Friday came along.

Of course, there were still a few bits and pieces that were missing, but he was very proud of himself for furnishing their new home the way he did.

Unlike the house he grew up in, the flat consisted of colourful furniture, funny looking paintings and things that brought up fun memories. Many of Regulus’ artistic works were displayed throughout all of the rooms alongside Sirius’ too, of course.

Regulus loved his room. Sirius made sure to put in as many stuffies as possible and got every doll and playmobile set the store had to offer. He was not going to raise his brother by telling him which toys he was allowed to play with based on the genitals he was born with.

After doing some research, he decided that Regulus would be put into “Kerry’s Kindergarten”. Their website looked the best, the staff looked really friendly, and they offered great service. Not only that, but the reviews were amazing too.

Sirius called them up and arranged a meeting that afternoon where Regulus would get to check out the grounds and play with some of the kids before he could let his brother go there without any worries. They ate lunch, which consisted of pasta with eggs and bell peppers because he had only bought the essentials, painted a bit and then it was time to go.

Regulus ended up loving the space. It was rather small, but Sirius didn’t mind. The bloke who ran the place, Peter, seemed to have good intentions and gave them a tour through the building, showing Reggie where everything was.

“When can I come again?” Reggie asked the smaller, blonde adult.

Peter grinned and looked down at the boy.

“If your brother is okay with that, we’d love to have you come back on Monday!”

Regulus tugged on Sirius’ jeans and gave him the biggest pout Sirius had ever seen.

“Pads, pleeeeaaaaaase! Pleeeeeeeaaaaase can I come back on Monday?”

The older brother could do nothing but chuckle and nod. Regulus had grown up so fast. Too fast, in Sirius’ opinion. He was ready to go to kindergarten, for heaven’s sake.

“If you gentlemen would follow me to my office, we could sign the documents and register Regulus in the system!”

The Blacks walked just behind the blonde and sat down in the comfortable chairs right in front of Peter’s large, wooden desk.

Doing paperwork was rather boring, but it had to be done. After thirty minutes of going over everything again, Regulus was now officially part of the Kerry family and got the all clear to attend the kindergarten once the next week would start.

They celebrated by eating ice cream an snacking on some pretzels while watching shows Reggie liked.

At 7:30pm Regulus had washed his face, brushed his teeth and was wearing his pyjamas.

“What a handsome young man I have standing in front of me,” Sirius smiled, his voice having gone all soft for his little boy.

Regulus giggled and raced into his new room.

Sirius read him a bedtime story about space invaders and aliens because that was what fascinated the boy the most before Regulus’ eyelids began to flutter and shut just seconds later. After giving him a kiss on the forehead, Sirius exited the room quietly. The nightlamp was now Regulus’ helper and comforter.

He spent the rest of the evening working on a painting he was getting ready to publish. It consisted of a lot of reds, yellows and greens being splashed on top of each other while he already thought about what he would put on top of it. Maybe an animal, or outlines of a person, or maybe a random star’s constellation. He would figure it out along the way.

Once the clock hit 10, he posted a quick work in progress picture and decided to call it a day. His 200k Instagram followers would surely appreciate it.

The entire weekend was spent working on the artwork. Regulus had told him to put him on the canvas, and while he was not going to do that, he decided to put Leo’s constellation on it, so it somehow had to do with his brother.

It wasn’t his best work, he knew that, but it was the first thing he did in his new home, so it meant a lot to him. He sent it to his publishers and wrote a quick text about the publication and general information they would need before they would come to inspect it more closely and decide on if it would get scanned and sold or if it would stay in Sirius’ private collection.

On Sunday evening he was enjoying a glass of wine while watching shit tv shows when the new advert for the dating app Chatter was on. It looked fun. He hadn’t even thought about dating anybody in the last few months. Sure, he had hookups, but they never really lasted.

He installed the app and quickly created an account. The picture he used for it was of him in front of a bar, smoking a cigarette and grinning cheekily at the camera. It wasn’t a proud moment of his, he had to admit, because the night ended with him being blackout drunk, but he would be a fool to think that that picture of him wasn’t at least in the top 5 of “Sirius Black’s best pictures that weren’t selfies”.

He also had to include a biography. He really didn’t know how at 180 words limit would do him any justice.

The bio he came up with was funny to him.

**“Looking for a badass, already have a good ass. I also practice safe sex - I tie you to the bed so you won’t fall off. They say “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” well I’m always down for shots.**

**Enough shitty puns. I’m Pads, 24, love art, tattoos and am looking for a fun time. If you’re not a complete git we’ll get along just fine. Have a good day!”**

“That’ll get them,” he chuckled to himself as he sat at his kitchen table and lost track in time. 

He swiped left and right for what felt like hours until he came across a really cute looking hipster. His curly, blonde hair almost covered his entire forehead and his smile made Sirius squirm. He inspected his account, reading the bio over and over again until he swiped left, hoping that he’d get a like back before he decided to finish his wine and pay attention to what was going on on the screen in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! hope you enjoyed this chapter. thank you for all the kudos so far, i'm glad you liked the first chapter! see you soon!


	3. Chapter Three: Oh! You Pretty Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius chats up Remus. Also, it's Regulus' first day of kindergarten!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all, i hope you like this chapter. if you do, please comment! thanks! lots of love, see you next time

Birds were chirping outside his window. The sun was shining through the blinds Remus had bought a few days before and warmed his exposed chest. Remus let his fingers trace along his ribcage, sighing at how skinny he was. He loved his job, but even though he constantly had food in front of him, he tended to forget to eat, working himself up, and often only ended up just having eaten a tiny bowl of cereal and multiple coffees a day.

It was 6:40 am as Remus reached across his warm, comfortable bed and grabbed his phone from his poor excuse of a bedside table.

James had sent him some memes and the BBC had released some information regarding the newest articles about the stock market, but apart from that, he had not received any notifications while he was asleep. Or so he thought.

Remus checked Facebook and cringed at all of his friends achieving academic success, having children, and buying large houses while he was currently sleeping on a mattress James and Lily didn’t need anymore which he put on a bedframe he made himself out of wood he upcycled. The studio flat he lived in wasn’t big but he could manage. It was trashy, nothing worked the way it was supposed to, but he spent so much time at the Potters that it didn’t matter to him what the flat was like.

While he was going through Pavo’s Instagram and checked out what the comments had to say, he got the notification that he received a Like on Chatter. Amused, he opened the app and clicked on the other person’s profile.

Remus gasped.

What the fuck was happening.

The person who had liked him was a long-haired, tattooed, high cheek-boned demigod who looked like he could destroy Remus with his bare hands. That must have been a mistake. Remus read the man’s bio a few times before he clicked on the man’s profile picture. He was wearing a leather jacket that covered most of his arms but left his chest exposed, which was covered by a flimsy shirt. Remus zoomed closer and saw that the man’s fingernails were painted a bright pink.

Holy shit, Remus thought to himself. “Pads” that God of a man called himself.

Remus liked him back, knowing exactly that he was definitely not going to get a message from him. Why would he? Why would he message someone as ordinary as Remus? He probably had concerts to attend and groupies to seduce.

With that thought in his head, Remus got up and showered just before he made himself some strong green tea. He needed the extra push today. Once he was sat at his dinner table/workspace he heard his phone ding.

Being the curious man he was, he immediately pulled the device out of his pocket and checked to see what had happened.

“ONE (1) UNSEEN MESSAGE FROM PADS” he read.

He immediately opened the app and stared at his screen.

**Pads: I ought to complain to Spotify for you not being named this week’s hottest single xx**

Remus blushed immediately. He a) didn’t expect to hear from that guy ever and b) had never been flirted with online, so he immediately panicked. What was he supposed to reply?

_Remus: Well, thank you, but I could say the same about you. If I’m all honest, my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw your profile_

Did he just ruin it? Was that too much? Was that awkward?

**Pads: That just made my day, and it’s barely 7 in the morning haha x**

_Remus: glad to be of service_

**Pads: Alright handsome, tell me about yourself. Let’s skip the boring stuff, tell me stuff that makes u happy x**

Remus decided to just fuck it and give him a proper answer. He was going to spill his guts to this handsome stranger. If he would end up unliking him, that was understandable. He wouldn’t be hurt.

_Remus: Well, I moved to Blackpool when I was 18 and left most of my friends and family back in Wales to start new and it was the best decision I could have made_

**Pads: Why’s that?**

_Remus: My closest of friends and I moved to Blackpool after school and went into so many different directions, two of my friends own a successful restaurant where I wait tables, my best mate is an author, his wife is a teacher etc. etc._

_Remus: Wales weighed me down, you know? Same old song and dance, I guess. I just needed to see new faces, hear new music, see new cites and such_

**Pads: And Blackpool was the next best city you could come up with?**

_Remus: Very funny. No, my mate James’ parents took us swimming here one summer when we were still in school and we all liked the place enough to say “hell yeah, I can see myself living here”_

_Remus: Also, the chips at the Pierre are unbeatable. You can’t argue with me about that_

He didn’t know where the confidence came from, but he liked it anyway.

**Pads: I bet they are. I’ve only just moved here, you see, so I can’t really agree nor disagree**

_Remus: If you have the chance, you gotta check it out! Now it’s your turn. Tell me about yourself_

**Pads: Alrighttttttt, I will**

**Pads: I wish I was born in the 60s so I could have been a teenager in the 70s, David Bowie’s music videos were my sexual awakening, I can’t look after plants for the life of me and I’m a great cook**

_Remus: Very interesting_

_Remus: I think David Bowie has caused a lot of sexuality crises in the last few decades_

_Remus: What do you like to cook?_

**Pads: Anything my Instagram Explore page shows me that looks intriguing**

_Remus: Can’t argue with that_

**Pads: As if you were gonna ;)**

_Remus: You got me there. I’m not one to disagree with beautiful people_

Remus checked his watch and jumped up. He had been so into texting the stranger that he forgot about getting ready.

In a hurry, he put on a large, grey sweater and a random pair of black trousers before he rushed out of his apartment building and jogged to the restaurant as quickly as his long legs could carry him. He received multiple weird looks from old ladies having a stroll, but he didn’t pay attention to them.

“Right on time as always,” Yaz greeted him with a smile on her face and Put Remus’ black apron on the counter for him to grab.

“Thank you, you’re a doll,” he coughed, being completely out of breath and put his uniform on before he checked his phone to see that Pads had sent him another message.

**Pads: Says you – if If Van Gogh had you as a subject, the sunflowers would have gone straight in the trash**

_Remus: You’re going to make me blush in front of my boss_

**Pads: You blushing must be a gorgeous sight to see**

As predicted, Remus blushed. The guy he was talking to was interesting and knew a thing or two about art! What the hell was happening?

“Don’t flirt with my girlfriend,” he heard Marlene shout from the kitchens. Already having forgotten about the conversation with Yaz, he decided to just not reply and shrugged.

In the staff room, he applied some of the cologne he kept in his pocket, brushed his fingers through his hair, and blew his nose before he checked himself out in the mirror. The bags under his eyes weren’t as prominent as they were on other days, which was a good thing. His lips were a bit chapped, though. His skin was looking better, too. That ugly alcohol zit he got from drinking by himself when he came home after the night shift on Saturday also seemed to become smaller and smaller. Overall, he was okay with the way he looked that day.

“Remus come out, the first customers are here,” Yaz shouted so that Remus would move his ass to the dining area.

“I came out 10 years ago, Darling,” he chuckled quietly.

Remus grabbed his notebook, a pen and smiled at the customer who had just sat down at the restaurant.

“Good morning, what can I get for you today?”, Remus asked and watched the man browse through their menu.

The man ordered scrambled eggs with bacon and a large Frappuccino. One by one more customers arrived until the restaurant was packed with people chatting away. The cooks Albus and Filius changed the menu weekly, so Remus had to go over it a few times before he could confidently talk to the guests about the new dishes, but once he got the hang of them, he had a pleasant morning. There were a few minor disturbances, but overall, the day had been successful so far.

During his break he called James, talked to him about James’ new project, and told him about the new cake Albus had come up with, promising his friend that he would bring some slices with him if there were any left at the end of the day.

Once James had hung up, his phone dinged again. He was a bit nervous to open the message but knew that he had no reason to be. It was just the most beautiful person he’d ever seen sliding into his DMs

**Pads: I feel like getting some coffee. Work is exhausting. Any recommendations?**

Remus was hesitant. Of course, he could just say that he should show up at the place he worked at, but was he ready to face that handsome stranger? He didn’t think so. But there was this small coffee bar on the opposite side of the street his work was located at, so what was the harm in telling him about that place where Remus could watch him from the distance and see if he was really who he said he was?

_Remus: Michael’s coffee shop. It’s downtown and they have the best stuff. Get a cupcake while you’re at it, too, they’re so good!!!!_

**Pads: Thanks for the tip, I’ll check it out, and knowing that you like it there will make it special**

Of course, he could turn the conversation around to be flirtatious again. Not that Remus minded. Actually, he didn’t mind at all. He couldn’t even remember the last time anybody had treated him like that, so it felt as if it were all new to him.

His break ended ten minutes later and from that point on Remus made sure to check the large window at the front of the restaurant to see if the guy he could not stop thinking about was actually that man from the picture or just some random middle-aged weirdo that went after younger men.

Being so busy with all of the orders and getting them right, he almost missed him. Almost. While putting a plate covered in delicious-looking pasta in front of a customer, he caught a glimpse of a worn-out leather jacket on the other side of the street. After telling his customer to enjoy his meal he hurried to the register and stood next to Yaz.

“Who are we watching?” Yaz asked, her eyes already squinting to make out the people who were crossing the street.

“There’s this handsome guy I started chatting with, told him to get coffee at Michael’s to see if he was real. I think he just went in,” Remus just shrugged and leaned forward to get a better look.

“Already following your orders, huh? Kinky,” the tall woman grinned and made Remus blush harder than he thought he could.

“No, it’s not like that ... I ... He... He asked me where to get coffee because he’s new in town and I told him that Mike’s was the place to go. Now hush, I think he’s leaving the building” Remus said.

And right he was. Pads was walking out of the building, carrying a bag that seemed to be filled to the brim with pastries in his left hand and a cup of coffee in the right. Remus couldn’t believe his eyes. He was even more beautiful in real life. The black skinny jeans that he was wearing hugged his body beautifully. The loose, red silk shirt exposed his tattooed chest and almost made Remus drool.

The man took a sip of the coffee and seemed to take a deep breath before he walked up to his car, putting the food onto the passenger seat, and got into the car himself. Seconds later, Remus’ phone dinged again.

**Pads: The coffee is really nice. I couldn’t decide which muffin to get, and the cake looked nice too, so I just got one of each. Whoops.**

Attached to that message he received a picture of the bag he had just seen in real life.

He texted him an “ _I’m glad you like it :)_ ” and went back to work as the car drove off. Even though he tried not to, all he could think about was that man and how his gorgeous hair bounced as he walked.

Once his shift was over, he picked Harry up from kindergarten and was greeted with the usual enthusiastic cry into existence.

“UNCLE REMUS!!!”

“Hey, mate,” Remus laughed and walked up to the reception where Peter was signing some documents.

“G’day,” he greeted the blonde and waited for Harry to pack his bag so they could leave.

“Harry has made a new friend!”, Peter informed Remus. A new friend? Was that the kid James had talked about last week?

“Oh, has he now? Which one is it?”, he replied, eyeing the group of children that were playing with the puppets.

“The black-haired one. His name is Regulus. It’s his first day. Very nervous, very shy. Harry immediately treated him like one of his closest mates, though. They’re been playing since Regulus arrived”

Before Remus could answer, the small son of his friend grabbed his finger and led him to the play group.

“Regulus, this is my Uncle Remus,” Harry said, showing off his lanky companion like some priced procession.

Regulus stared at him. It wasn’t necessarily a scary stare, but Remus thought that something about that boy looked a bit sad.

“Hello Uncle Remus,” Regulus said after a few seconds of silence.

“Hello to you too, Regulus. How do you like this place? Are the toys fun?”, Remus asked with a smile on his hand as the boy put together a lego duplo set.

“It’s alright,” Regulus mumbled and once he had put the missing piece onto the others, he held his toy up for the others to see.

“Very cool!” Harry shouted and knelt down to hug Regulus. The fair-skinned boy seemed hesitant at first but melted into the hug. Remus loved how big of a heart Harry had.

“That’s some good work you’ve done, you can be proud of yourself,” he told the boy before he looked at Harry.

“Ready to go?”

“Yes, Uncle Remus”

“Let’s head out, then,”, he declared and watched Harry pick up his backpack.

“Okay Regulus see you tomorrow!”, Harry said enthusiastically and hugged his new friend one more time before he waved the others goodbye.

Remus nodded at Peter just before they left the building and knew exactly what Harry was going to tell him on the way home.

“Regulus has a Dad, but it’s not his Dad because it’s his brother, and the Dad is gone, and his Mum is gone too, and he really likes to draw just like his brother, and he’s four and also a month older than me and he has this cool giraffe in his backpack and he said his brother liked Freddie Burberry or something like that, I forgot. Barberry? Mermery? I don’t know, Uncle Remus”, Harry concluded as he held onto Remus’ finger while they strolled along the beach of Blackpool on their way home.

“Mercury?”, Remus suggested.

“Yes! That! Wow, you’re so smart,” Harry sighed.

“Well, he sounds like he’s a cool guy,” Remus said with a smile on his face that made Harry giggle.

“Maybe he can be your friend, too,”, Harry told Remus but seemed to be completely lost in thought. He was probably thinking about what a playdate with Remus and Regulus would be like.

Remus wasn’t too keen on befriending yet another toddler, so he just nodded. The way Harry described Regulus’ parental situation sounded rough, though. Of course, Harry’s child brain couldn’t form the sentence the way it was supposed to be, but from the given context Remus assumed that Regulus’ brother was some sort of caretaker or legal guardian for the boy. If Regulus was four, he assumed that his brother would not be much older than Remus was himself.

“... And he’s my best friend now, Dad, just like you and Uncle Remus and Mummy and Dorcas”, Harry announced as they all sat on the couch and snacked on some popcorn.

“I can pack two muffins for you tomorrow, Haz, if you wanna give Regulus one,”, Lily suggested as she played with her son’s hair. They had been all snuggled up, Harry practically was sitting on top of her.

Harry jumped up and giggled.

“Yes, yes, he will love it!”

While they were all invested in the movie that was currently played on the tv, Remus was stalking Pavo’s website once again. He really, really wanted to get one of his prints. He would love to get an original painting, but he didn’t have 500 pounds just lying around, so a print would do.

Pavo offered multiple sizes and varieties of prints that overwhelmed Remus just a little. What should he get?

Harry glanced over his shoulder and whispered, “What are you doing?”.

Remus looked at the boy and showed him the phone.

“Which one should I get?”, Remus whispered and let Harry scroll through the page. Harry decided on a grey and green moon.

“That one. It’s cool. And you’re a wolf, right? So you have your own moon,” Harry reasoned.

Remus couldn’t say anything against that. It was a really cute explanation.

Minutes later he received the email that confirmed the order. He was very excited

about it. He paid 60 pounds, that print better be amazing.

After the movie was over and Harry had gone to bed, Lily, James and Remus were sat around the dinner table and drank some wine as they talked about the current political situation in England.

“You’d think that the Blacks learned their lesson, right? But apparently, Bellatrix and her racist bullshit seem to go on forever!” James groaned as the woman’s face was displayed on the screen of their tv.

Remus never really paid much attention to what was going on with them, but when Orion and his wife died and Sirius Black disappeared, even Remus’ attention was caught. He had never seen a picture of Sirius but was curious as to see what he looked like. Maybe that guy was dead. He really couldn’t have known.

“Andromeda is the only nice one of the bunch. She’s against her own family too, remember? Remember when she spoke out about Bellatrix’ hate speech and got all of those death threats from the Tories and didn’t give a fuck? Proper badass if you ask me,” Lily added before she finished her drink and poured herself another glass.

Remus nodded. Andromeda was a gorgeous woman who had a lot of interesting things to say.

“What about Sirius, though? Does anybody ever check if that lad is still around? What’s he up to? Maybe he’s on the Bahamas living off his parents’ money,” James laughed and received two eye rolls.

“To be honest, I get why he left. If my parents were anywhere as shit as his, not that mine were perfect, but Orion Black was another kind of evil, then I would’ve left too. Fresh start and all that, in a way. I was just thinking, do you guys know what he looked like?”

They all then googled him and found zero results.

“That settles it then,” James sighed.

“Faceless bloke, it seems,” he added.

Remus shrugged.

Twenty minutes later he decided that it was time for him to leave. After having hugged his friends goodbye, he made his way back to his flat, where he was greeted with an open window he had forgotten to close in the morning. Great.

He tidied up the flat, showered, and got into bed as quickly as possible, not wanting to freeze to death. He turned up the thermostat but assumed that it wouldn’t work anyway. Before he could wallow in his own pity, his phone dinged once again.

**Pads: Good evening, gorgeous stranger. Hope you missed me. How was your day?**

Remus rolled his eyes once again. He didn’t miss that man. He liked having his attention though, so he had to give him that. He still couldn’t believe someone as Pads would be interested in him.

_Remus: It was lovely actually. Hung out with my friends after work and played with their kid. Had great wine. Forgot to close a window at mine before I left though, might freeze to death_

**Pads: Sounds just lovely. Want me to come over, warm you up, and give you a back massage? ;)**

That made his heart jump. He was in dire need of a massage but couldn’t trust himself enough to let that man just show up. Or was he talking about sex? Remus blushed and felt his stomach turn. If he were to think about having sex with that guy he would have another restless night in front of him. Either way, he had to text something flirty back.

_Remus: Not just yet haha_

_Remus: But I’ll keep that in the back of my mind. A free massage does sound good_

**Pads: Ready whenever you are x**

_Remus: thought so_

**Pads: I’ll head to bed now, handsome. Talk to you soon. Sweet dreams, dream of me ;)**

_Remus: Goodnight :) see you!_

He put the phone away and smiled to himself. That man sure knew how to make him blush.

With Pads on his mind, Remus drifted off to sleep and into the land of dreams.


	4. Chapter Four: Teenage Wildlife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius meets Harry and Lily. He also asks out Remus on a date.

It had been a couple of days since Sirius had chatted up that gorgeous blonde and he couldn’t complain. He was very witty and seemed to be very literate. Like Sirius, he wasn’t born in the city but ended up loving it. They both shared a love for music and talked about all the popular musicians of the last few decades they could think of before the days were over. Sirius didn’t expect to like that man as much as he did.

Blackpool had been nothing but a blast. He worked all day long, creating beautiful artworks that his supporters went crazy for, and spent the time where he didn’t work playing with Regulus, going on walks, cooking, having long phone calls with Mary, or talking to Remus.

Regulus seemed to like the place, too. The kindergarten seemed to have been a good choice after all. Before they arrived, Sirius worried a lot if his brother would fit in with the other kids. He was shy, very timid, and kept to himself more often than not but had the biggest heart Sirius had ever seen, so when the weirdly rude looking guy at the front desk told him that his baby brother had made a few friends and even had a boy he spent a lot of time with, Sirius felt as if he could finally let out the air he had been holding in since he decided to move away from London.

Regulus loved that boy. His name was Harry, and he was the same age as Reggie. He wore ridiculously round glasses and had the brightest smile in the world, according to Reg. Sirius hadn’t seen him yet, because Harry was always picked up a bit earlier than Sirius could leave to get his brother, but he knew that it was only a matter of time until a playdate would be arranged.

On Tuesday, Sirius got an email while he was painting from Reg’s kindergarten that informed him about a get-together they had planned for the upcoming Friday. The parents were encouraged to prepare to join in “fun activities”, which Sirius would rather not do, and bring snacks, even though the food was provided. When he told Regulus about it, the boy was over the moon.

“You’ll meet my best friend!!” Regulus said breathily while he was sorting through his toy box.

“He’s really cool and his Uncle is also really nice, and his dad takes him on so many cool trips and he has this really cool monkey as a backpack,”

Sirius chuckled as he sent a quick reply back saying that they were both looking forward to it.

“I can’t wait to meet him, then,”

Regulus nodded and stared at his older brother, who had a bit of green paint on his left cheek.

“What’s up? Is there something on my face?” Sirius asked, knowing exactly what Reg was looking at, and dragged it a bit further, covering his face in paint. Regulus began to giggle while trying to tell Sirius what he was doing.

“No, no, you’ll be Shrek! No, Paddie!” Regulus laughed and threw his head back. By then, Sirius had almost turned his face into a green screen with the remaining paint he had on his right hand due to him being clumsy and sent his brother into a complete laughing fit.

“Get out of me swamp!” Sirius shouted, doing possibly the worst ogre impression in the entire world, and was confused when Regulus promptly stopped laughing.

“Shrek doesn’t sound like that,” Regulus sighed, being Sirius’ harshest critique.

“It’s always the ones you love the most that judge you the hardest,” Sirius replied, letting himself stumble back dramatically and threw his hands up in the air, knowing that Regulus found that very amusing. The boy laughed to himself quietly a few more times before he went through his large variety of toys to figure out what to play with next as Sirius went to clean his face.

Once he was back at his workstation, he put on his favourite Prince album and stared at the canvas in front of him.

For the last few days, he had been sketching out ideas of what the new painting he would look like. He definitely was not going to sell it, because a) it was his baby brother and that would be weird and b) he was painting a moment he would never want to forget.

Once he had made up his mind, he sketched a closeup of Regulus clutching onto his little bag, smiling brightly at the viewer. Sirius already loved the painting with all his heart.

Usually, he never really painted people, because he hated painting faces, but when Regulus waltzed out of the kindergarten, telling him about his amazing first day and his new friend, Sirius immediately felt the need to sketch his brother’s expression. He had never seen anybody make his brother smile like that except from himself, and he couldn’t have been happier. He was happy that Regulus could share his passions and thoughts with other people, too. He never thought that he would find a friend as easily as he did.

Speaking of friends, Sirius was so busy with his work and Regulus that he forgot about making friends himself. The only person he had gotten to know in the little time he had been in Blackpool was Remus. Not that Remus wasn’t enough, quite the opposite was true, but he never expected his brother’s social live to flourish quicker than his own would.

He was just starting to paint the background as his phone dinged. As he went to check for who had texted him, he smiled to himself.

_Remus: so, I’m watching this Abba documentary and I really don’t get how people preferred Björn over Benny_

**Pads: Oh, definitely. Benny could get it on any day of the week. What can I say? I’ve always had a thing for blondes and brunettes ;)**

_Remus: Of course you do_

_Remus: I personally always liked the handsome, long-haired biker boys better_

Sirius grinned. Flirting with Remus felt so natural. As if they’d known each other for years. Their conversations flowed so effortlessly, too. He was looking forward to seeing where this would take them.

**Pads: ;)**

**Pads: How’s your day been so far, handsome?**

By now, Sirius was used to Remus taking a while to respond because he often sent long rambles that went on for ages, so he went back to his work. He hadn’t told Remus about his occupation yet and wasn’t sure when he was going to. Up until then, he had not yet been in a situation where he was close enough to the person to reveal what he did. Not that his job was that big of a secret, but since the identity of Pavo wasn’t known to the public, he wasn’t keen on slipping up and becoming irrelevant.

_Remus: Could be better, could be worse. Customers are a pain in the ass today tho. This old lady won’t stop chatting me up. I thought a flannel and cuffed jeans were enough to signalize that I wasn’t straight. Apparently not. lol_

Sirius laughed. Something about the dry way the man texted got him each and every time.

**Pads: Sounds absolutely lovely. Maybe you should wear a pink speedo that says “homo” on the back so she gets the message. While you’re at it, I wouldn’t mind if you took pictures in it and sent them to me then, a bloke can only do so much to fuel his imagination x**

Maybe he shouldn’t have sent that. That was a bit too much. He needed to apologise. He didn’t even know that man properly.

**Pads: Sorry if that was too inappropriate, just can’t hold myself back when I talk to handsome men like you**

Remus didn’t respond for a while after that, which stressed Sirius out tremendously. He didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable, the quite opposite, actually. While he continued to work on his painting, he tried not to think of the curly-haired man from that dating app.

Two hours later he put down the paintbrush and yawned. Regulus was napping on the couch while watching Youtube videos which made Sirius’ heart skip a beat. He immediately took a picture of the sight, Regulus’ butt being up in the air, and put away his painting utensils.

The artwork had come together nicely. It captured Regulus beautifully - the smile was genuine and his eyes shined brightly. Sirius was very happy. He put it on a higher surface so that Regulus couldn’t touch it and let it dry.

As he was about to make himself some coffee, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

_Remus: don’t worry, I like it when you do that_

_Remus: Sorry for the late reply, got held up by my boss. Just got my pay-check for the month, time to impulse buy everything off Amazon haha_

Sirius rolled his eyes. Of course, he was busy. Not everyone got to stay at home and paint all day as Sirius did. Sometimes he forgot about that.

His manager was very proud of him for continuously producing high-quality works in the last few months. Sirius could work out his problems through his art so he was eternally grateful to see that people enjoyed it.

**Pads: I wouldn’t if I were you. I’d spend the money on food and wine. Maybe some vinyl. A new video game perhaps.**

_Remus: Yeah, but when the mood strikes me I can’t promise you that I won’t click buy when I’m on the tab for “150 small plastic babies”. What I’ll do with them, not sure yet. Maybe make a necklace_

**Pads: Don’t let me be the person to stand between you and the jewelry of your dreams**

_Remus: You won’t, I’d make you one if you like_

**Pads: Rocking the partner look so people think we’re equally insane**

_Remus: Exactly! That’s what I’m talking about!_

He loved the way Remus’ mind worked. Usually, he would go all in and respond with some thought-out answer that probably made Remus blush, but he was too tired for that. He fed Regulus and washed him before he got ready to go to bed himself.

After they brushed their teeth and Sirius put their hair protective braids, Regulus climbed onto his bed and got under the covers.

“I’m sorry Reggie, I’m too tired for a bedtime story. But Fireman Sam will tell you about his day, how’s that sound?”

Regulus yawned and gave Sirius a weak thumbs-up, already almost being in the land of dreams. After Sirius put the CD in the CD-player, he knelt to give his brother a kiss on the forehead and left the room as quietly as possible.

As he got into his bedroom, he switched off his light and let himself fall onto his bed. He knew that he sounded insane, but sometimes he imagined what it would be like to have Remus laying next to him. Okay, that’s not the full truth, he also imagined what it would be like to be holding him while they were snogging. But he was too tired to let that thought go anywhere. Just as he was about to charge his phone and put it away for the night, he received a message from Remus.

_Remus: You talked about The New York Dolls the other day and I just checked them out and even though it’s not for me, I can see why you like it_

Sirius grinned. Suddenly he didn’t feel as tired anymore.

**Pads: Oh yeah? Which songs did you listen to?**

_Remus: I checked out their self-titled album. As Remus, I didn’t like it, but I tried to listen to it through your ears and it kinda clicked_

**Pads: What do you mean by that?**

_Remus: It’s your kind of music, right? They mean a lot to you. So I tried to think about the past of Pads, a guy who went to gigs and was the face of the punk scene when he was younger, and it changed my listening experience_

_Remus: I wasn’t trying to assume what your past was like, that was just kinda what I imagined it was like_

He was not going to drop his story onto Remus. Not online, anyway. He was too precious for that.

**Pads: sounds about right tho x**

**Pads: That makes me happy, though. Music and art have always just been my outlets for my thoughts and opinions, so you trying to adapt that mindset is really sweet**

**Pads: That was really sweet**

_Remus: It was interesting :)_

**Pads: Was your afternoon any fun?**

_Remus: You could say so. Hung out with my friends and played some Wii with my mate’s son. Had a great dinner and now I’m in bed just watching Netflix_

**Pads: ... and wishing the long-haired sex god you’re talking to was right next to you, right?**

_Remus: I’m easy to predict it seems_

**Pads: I’m just psychic ;)**

**Pads: What are you watching?**

_Remus: American Psycho_

**Pads: Oh, who can say no to Christian Bale man-splaining Phil Collins and Genesis?**

_Remus: Nobody, ever !!_

**Pads: Our brains just connect like that sometimes**

_Remus: True that_

_Remus: And yours? How was yours?_

**Pads: Worked all day, didn’t take enough breaks so I’m quite exhausted now. Made pasta, now in bed.**

**Pads: I’d make a flirty joke about wanting you here next to me, but even I can’t come up with something cheesy enough to send now. I’m too tired. Thanks for the lovely chat handsome, I’ll text you tomorrow. Have a good night!**

_Remus: sleep well, Pads_

_Remus: It’s been my pleasure_

_Remus: Goodnight :)_

...

Time passed quickly until Friday came along. While Sirius was busy cleaning up the flat, Regulus was so very excited to go to the get-together that he was jumping from one side of the couch to the other.

“If you hurt yourself we can’t go, Reggie!” Sirius warned him.

Regulus sighed, got off the couch, and shook his head.

“Party pooper,” Sirius heard him mumble.

“Don’t give me that attitude, young man,”

Regulus looked up at Sirius and put on the biggest smile he could. Sirius, having the biggest soft spot for him, melted a little.

Before he knew it, Regulus was leading him to the large garden behind the kindergarten. They decorated it beautifully - lots of tables and chairs were put all over the premise, lots of toy stations were positioned not far away from the tables and they even had a bar where they served drinks (non-alcoholic, of course, to Sirius’ disappointment).

Once Sirius had put down the tray of cupcakes his brother and he had baked, Regulus sprinted off to do God knows what. He put the lid underneath the tray so that he didn’t have to hold it throughout the afternoon and got himself some orange juice.

As he was about to approach a short-haired woman, Regulus was shouting his name from the distance. He looked up from his cup and saw his brother, holding onto his tiny friend’s hand as they ran towards him. They arrived half a minute later, both being breathless from that marathon, and let themselves fall onto the ground.

“This is Harry, my best friend,” Regulus said breathlessly and painted at the boy.

“I’m Padfoot, or Pads for short,” Sirius smiled as he helped the boys get up.

“I know, Regosaur said,” Harry giggled.

“Regosaur?”

“I call him funny names because his name is also funny. Regosaur, Reginald, Regolino, anything,”

The three of them laughed and Sirius tried to ignore his racing heart. He loved watching his boy have this much fun. It was almost hypnotic to him.

“You have to meet my mummy!! Reggo and I think you will be good friends!” Harry exclaimed and looked around, searching for his mother.

“Lead me to her, sir,” Sirius replied and put the cup on the nearest table.

The two Blacks followed Harry until the boy stopped in front of a beautiful woman with ginger hair.

“Mummy, this is Reggae’s brother Sirius!” Harry said, pointing at the long-haired man. The woman smiled kindly and shook her head.

“No pointing at people with your fingers, Harry, Daddy just told you yesterday! Oh dear, sorry about that. My name’s Lily, nice to meet you!” Lily introduced herself and ruffled her son’s hair.

The boys didn’t seem to be interested in their conversation and sprinted off to play in the sandpit.

“It’s my pleasure, really. We’ve just moved here, and your Harry has Reggie wrapped around his finger already,” Sirius laughed and watched the two cover themselves in the sand.

“Wouldn’t you know it! Harry is quite a social kid, but something about Regulus has got him hooked. He’s all he talks about. At this point, I might know almost as much as you do about your brother,”

Sirius chuckled softly and looked at the sweet pastries on the table next to them. He grabbed something random and took a big bite, immediately loving the decision.

“What’s that?” he asked, covering his mouth so she wouldn’t have to watch him chew.

“Ladder to heaven, they’re called, my husband James likes weird pastries and the shape of it entertained him enough that he tried to convince me to make them, and he’s got quite a silver tongue, and here we are,” Lily said as she took one herself and sat down at the bench behind her, tapping on the space next to her so that he would sit down. So he did.

“Husband you said? How long have you been together?” Sirius asked, getting himself another pastry.

“Yeah, we got married when we were quite young, fresh out of school actually,” Lily admitted, but Sirius wasn’t one to judge. He’d only ever been in toxic relationships which he always was sure wouldn’t last, so he couldn’t say anything for or against it.

“That’s nice, though. I’m glad you found each other and things clicked like that,” he smiled and looked into Lily’s eyes properly. They were really kind. He felt a sense of comfort in them, a sense of being accepted. It relaxed him.

“So am I. Now tell me about you, Mr. Regulus’ brother, how’d you end up moving to town?”

Sirius shifted in his seat before he answered, “Reg and I just got tired of London. Needed a change of scenery, one could say. Threw a dart against a map as to where we’d go, and now we’re here. My job allows me to work at home, so that wasn’t gonna be a problem, but I’m glad it didn’t land on a tiny village in the south. Lord knows I wouldn’t have survived that part of England for more than two seconds, I mean, who could?”

Lily laughed loudly and nodded.

“I get that. Leaving Wales wasn’t easy for me either, but I love it here and Harry does too, so it makes it all even more worth it”

They chatted for another half an hour until the boys came back to them, asking nicely for something to drink and eat. Lily got them juice while Sirius grabbed two sandwiches.

“Enjoy your meal, gentlemen,” Sirius grinned and ruffled their hair as they sat down next to each other and whispered about their caretakers.

Lily went on to tell Sirius about her family, her upbringing, their travels, and her love for geography while Sirius talked about his passions, briefly mentioning his “self-employment” doing “this and that” and talked about his parents’ death and how long it took him to get the swing of putting diapers on Regulus. He didn’t mention their parents’ names or the circumstances of their death and Lily didn’t need to know these details.

As Lily left to go freshen up and the boys were busy playing knight and dragon, Sirius decided to message Remus.

**Pads: Hey you absolute beaut x**

_Remus: Oh, it’s Mr “Oh Remus, is that your boyfriend texting you? Turn your phone off, you’ll get distracted!”_

**Pads: That would be me, yes**

_Remus: At least you’re cute_

**Pads: I have other special traits I can tell you about ;)**

_Remus: Dear Lord, not now, I’m at work, my brain wouldn’t be able to comprehend that_

**Pads: I was kidding**

**Pads: Or was I not? ;)**

_Remus: For the sake of my employment, I physically and mentally can’t let you continue that thought, no matter how intriguing it might be for me_

**Pads: Told you I was irresistible**

_Remus: Go back to your family function, Pads, I’m sure you have other things to do_

**Pads: Than to message the most handsome man I’ve come across in the last twenty years? Uh, no**

_Remus: Stop flattering me or I’ll blush_

**Pads: Don’t make me look like the bad guy here. You’re the one with the curly hair and the gorgeous smile**

Their conversation went on like that until Lily came back. Sirius excused himself and sent Remus a quick **“talk to you later, handsome”** and put the phone away.

The boys and their caretakers spent the afternoon having a lot of fun. Just as the clock struck six pm, they decided to leave because the boys needed to go to bed.

“This has been very delightful,” Lily smiled as they stood outside the gates of the kindergarten.

“Definitely. Thanks for the great company,” Sirius looked down at the yawning boys who were holding onto each other for leverage and chuckled.

“We gotta head home. See you around!” Lily said, picking up her son and carrying him to their car. She had offered to drive them back home, but Sirius couldn’t accept the offer. He loved the walk home anyway.

Knowing how exhausted Regulus was, Sirius put him on his shoulders and made sure not to waste any time getting back to their flat while he held onto the box he brought the muffins in in his right hand. Once they were home, Regulus stripped out of his clothes and let himself fall facedown onto his bed.

“Just like his brother,” Sirius laughed as he cleaned up behind the boy, kissed his head like he always did, and turned off the lights.

It was seven, and Sirius decided to take a bath. It had been a while since he pampered himself, so he felt as if he deserved it. He wandered into the bathroom, took off his clothes, and let the bathtub fill up with water before dropping in a bath-bomb. The tub itself was large, it would fit two people easily, but wasn’t tacky as most larger tubs were.

Sirius got in and immediately felt his skin almost leaving his body. Boiling hot water, just how he liked it.

Once he was settled in, he put on some music and put his hair in a bun before he leaned back. Instinctively he grabbed his phone to play a game as he got a message from Remus.

_Remus: work was the worst today, and my friends were busy and you weren’t available so I’ve watched almost all of “Dark Tourist” and I’m not sure if I love or hate it_

**Pads: Well, David Farrier was cute in the show so I’d go for the love option**

_Remus: You know him??_

**Pads: Yeah, he produced a documentary on the tickle fetish a while back that sparked my interest and I’ve followed him ever since**

_Remus: you’re into that?_

**Pads: No, having people touch my feet and vice versa doesn’t do it for me**

_Remus: Thank god_

**Pads:I’m open for most things though**

_Remus: And what about your limits?_

**Pads: Scat and such, that shit grosses me out**

_Remus: haha, literally_

**Pads: You got me there**

They chatted for another twenty minutes about utter light-hearted stuff until Remus began to philosophise about harmonies in music and how hypnotising they are

_Remus: But do you know Until the Night by Billy Joel? It’s like a brain orgasm_

**Pads: Anything Billy Joel does is like a brain orgasm**

_Remus: very true_

**Pads: How about a real one, though?**

_Remus: uh_

_Remus: I_

**Pads: Just kidding haha!**

**Pads: Or am I?**

**Pads: No but seriously, I really enjoy our chats, and I’d love to get to know you, in real life**

**Pads: I want to see your face when I make sexual remarks and you tell me to stop it**

**Pads: So would you like to go out with me, Remus?**

**Pads: And please, don’t feel pressured to say yes, I want you to enjoy yourself as much as I would mysel** _f_

Sirius took a deep breath. Maybe this was too early. They’d only been chatting for what, two, three weeks? Maybe Remus wasn’t ready. Maybe he wouldn’t even want to meet him.

Just as he was about to put his phone away, he felt it vibrate in his hand.

_Remus: Holy shit, of course I would_

_Remus: I’d love to, actually_

_Remus: Did you have a date in mind?_

Sirius felt a large weight lift off his heart and grinned to himself.

**Pads: Are you free tomorrow evening?**

_Remus: Yeah, I’ve got the day shift tomorrow._

**Pads: Drinks and then a couple of too many starters as the main dish while we discuss why the thin white duke was unnecessarily handsome?**

_Remus: Marry me?_

**Pads: Gladly**

_Remus: Alright, love the idea. Pick me up at 8? :)_

**Pads: I Will be there. I’ll stop texting now tho, about to go to bed. Have a good night x**

_Remus: You too!_

Remus sent him his address while Sirius got out of the bathtub and slathered himself with body lotion before he put on his boxers and headed to bed. 

...

Sirius was up early. Earlier than Regulus, even. Very unusual.

Over the course of the day, Sirius did everything he could to keep his mind off the date he had in the evening. He did the dishes, did the laundry, ironed the clothes, hoovered the flat, reorganised his working station, and prepared the meals for Regulus and the babysitter he hired. Still, his mind was occupied by the blonde.

Was he going to like him? Would they even get along when he will show up? Would it be awkward?

Sirius sent Remus a quick message about the place being not so fancy so that he didn’t feel as if he needed to wear a suit or fancy clothes. If he was going to, then Sirius would not know what he was going to do because once he would see a man in a fitted suit, he would lose his cool and faint on the spot.

The elderly lady who he saw having put out an ad for her babysitting services showed up at 5, giving Regulus time to acclimate to her while Sirius was still home so if anything went wrong, he was there to help. Fortunately, Regulus seemed to be very calm and relaxed around her, so he could focus his thoughts on himself.

Sirius put on a tight-fitting black shirt with black flowers coming up on both sides on his ribs. He put on his usual pair of distressed, black skinny jeans and finished the look off with a burgundy velvet vest that he didn’t button down. At second thought, he also undid some of the buttons around his shirt down to the height of his nipples. In addition to the one red element on him, he went with a pair of red Jeffery West chukka boots.

Half an hour later he was ready. His hair was shiny and healthy. He applied a little bit of eyeliner on his bottom lit and looked at himself in the mirror.

“Handsome,” Sirius laughed to himself as he put his keys, his wallet, and his phone into his back pocket. He gave Regulus a kiss goodbye and told the woman again that if anything were to happen, he would available.

He made his way down to the garage and pulled out, maneuvering out of the driveway. It came closer and closer. He hadn’t been on a date in a long time so it felt as if he was a teenager again. That excited him.

Once he pulled up at Remus’ apartment complex, he parked the car and got buzzed into the building. After a few moments, he found himself in front of Remus’ door.

With shaky fingers, he reached up and rang his bell. It was a horribly loud sound, but Sirius didn’t care. His heart was racing. He couldn’t wait to see Remus. This was going to be amazing.

He took a deep breath and leaned against the doorframe when he heard Remus unlock the door.

That’s when he saw him and his heart stopped for a second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope u liked it! til next time!


	5. Chapter Five: Word on a Wing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The date happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fyi, at the end during remus' conversation with james and lily, remus is in italics, lily is underlined and james is underlined and in italics

Remus had been freaking out all day. Pads asked him out. He was so excited he didn’t know if he should shave his entire body, drink two liters of coffee or smoke an entire pack of cigarettes. Perhaps he should do none of those options or all three at once.

He could barely think of anything else but his date while he was at work, which resulted in him bringing the wrong food to the wrong customer on several occasions. Lucky for him, most customers were elderly women that tried to get him to date their granddaughters, so they never complained. When it was time for him to leave, Marlene gave him a big hug and kissed his cheek.

“Go get him, tiger. Invite us to the wedding!”

Remus laughed and waved his friends goodbye. He was so lucky to have friends that loved him as much as his people did. He arrived at his flat at six, meaning he had two hours to get ready before Pads would show up at his doorstep. Without thinking, he made himself a cuppa and took a shower. It felt wrong to take the mug with him, even though he really wanted to, so he stopped himself.

He hadn’t been on a date since he left school. The boy he went out with in high school was quite cute and even treated him almost kindly, but he knew that their relationship could never last. They broke up a week before school ended, so Remus had nobody holding him back from moving to Blackpool.

Despite him trying to manage his time properly, 7:30 pm came around earlier than he wanted it to. He let his hair air dry and even put in the fancy products Lily got him for Christmas – they made his hair all bouncy. As Remus stood in front of his lame excuse of a wardrobe, he searched through all of the clothes he had. He wanted to make a great first impression, so he knew that he couldn’t just wear anything, but he wasn’t big on owning fancy garments, so his choices were limited. After trying on the same five tops, he decided to wear the dark green slim fit suit James and he bought two years ago. It was the only suit he owned, and it was a bit looser than when he bought it, but he never had a reason to wear it until that night, so one could say that he was pretty excited to wear it out for the first time. Remus didn’t want to dress too fancy though, so he wore a plain, white t-shirt underneath.

The shoes he put on were reached up to his ankles, so Pads wouldn’t see his mismatched socks. Somehow, he thought that Pads would find that fact hilarious. Maybe he’d tell him later in the evening.

He put on his favourite cologne, brushed his teeth, and washed his face before he checked himself out. His skin had finally cleared up a bit, and even though he had some acne scars, Remus was happy with the way his skin looked.

He drank the tea he had been neglecting and was about to call Yaz to ask her if he should invite Pads in when he heard the doorbell ring.

Shit. How was it 8 already? And how was that man so on time?

Remus quickly made his way to the other side of his tiny apartment and took a deep breath. He was about to face one of the best-looking people he has ever known and was close to losing his shit. But somehow, he wasn’t as nervous as he thought he’d be.

Remus opened the door and swallowed. The black-haired man in front of him smiled at him. It was a very friendly, almost endearing smile.

“Holy shit, I’m so glad you’re real,” Pads laughed.

Something about Pads was so reassuring and welcoming to Remus that he didn’t actually panic as much as he thought he would.

“Yeah, 100% me, unfortunately,” Remus replied and felt his body relax a bit. This was going to be a good night.

They stood there and smiled at each other sheepishly for another few seconds before Pads broke the silence.

“I could look into your eyes for days on end, don’t get me wrong, but the table at Nico’s won’t wait, I’m afraid,”

Remus laughed softly and saw Pads’ face brighten at the fact that he made him laugh. What an adorable man. Remus nodded and quickly put on his shoes, trying not to take up too much time while Pads leaned against his doorframe and snuck a look of his flat.

“You weren’t joking when you said that this wasn’t really luxurious,” Remus heard him mumble.

A soft sigh escaped Remus’ lips as he got back up and put his essential items in his front pockets.

He locked turned off the lights and locked the front door before they left the building and walked to Pads’ car. Somehow, Remus anticipated a motorbike but was relieved when he saw the black Chevrolet old-timer in front of him. Then he did a double-take. Did that man drive a fucking Chevrolet old-timer?

“Oh, yeah, I know what you must be thinking right now, but my friend’s dad is a collector and wanted to get rid of her, so I bought her off him. She’s a pain in the ass to take care of, but she’s worth it, wouldn’t you say?” Pads asked as he skipped to the passenger seat and opened the door for Remus.

“What a gentleman you are,” Remus grinned and felt his cheeks turn red while he sat down in the seat. The car truly was beautiful. He had no understanding of it but could appreciate a good-looking car, nonetheless. Mere seconds later, Pads got in the car himself and started it. Immediately, the speakers started playing Queen really loudly which made Remus jump a little.

“Sorry about that, didn’t mean to scare you,” Pads mumbled apologetically and turned the volume down by two-thirds so that they wouldn’t be driving with no soundtrack playing in the background.

“No need to apologize, Queen is a great band to play loudly,” Remus smiled and put his seatbelt on as they drove away from his apartment complex and got onto the main road.

“How the hell did you manage to get a table at Nico’s? They’re booked out almost every day of the week!” the blonde asked and got comfortable on the leather seat bench.

“I know a guy,” Pads grinned as he drove them through the streets of Blackpool. It was a beautiful evening, and the busy streets were filled with people going out. Remus loved the city when it was like that.

“Of course, you do,” he laughed and looked at his handsome date. Remus tried to gather all of the courage he had in his body and opened his mouth to speak.

“You look really good tonight,”

Pads turned his head into Remus’ direction and smirked, exposing his white teeth to the blonde. Remus had to tense every muscle in his body not to audibly react to that.

“Thank you, Remus, so do you. When I told you not to overdress, I kind of tried to imply that you didn’t have to wear a suit, but I’m very, very glad you did,”

“Why?”

“Because your ass looks amazing in those trousers,”

Pads grinned widely and let out a soft “Awh” when he saw that Remus was blushing.

“I knew that you blushing would be cute, I just knew it!” Remus covered his face and sighed dramatically.

“You will be the death of me,”

“Not just yet, I don’t want to have to deal with your friends and not be able to brag that I got to kiss you,” Pads replied cheekily as he parked the car in front of the restaurant.

As far as Remus could tell, people were queuing for several blocks just to get in. He had never been on the other side of that queue, so when Pads grabbed his hand to walk past the crowd and enter the restaurant through a different entrance, he couldn’t help himself but take a mental image of the moment. Even if he would never see Pads again after this, everything about the evening was special, and so was entering the fanciest restaurant in town as if he was a celebrity.

Once they were shown to their table, they sat down and checked out the cocktail menu. Pads went with the “Pink Flamingo”, while Remus decided to order a Raspberry Mojito. As the waiter left, Pads took off his leather jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and leaned forward to get a closer look at Remus.

“I’m very glad that you agreed to this. I wouldn’t know what to do if you said no and I had to show up all by myself,” Pads admitted and crossed his fingers on the table. Remus raised his eyebrows. How long has this already been planned? Was he a fill in?

“So this wasn’t just an ‘oh, are you free tomorrow’?”

“Definitely not – I planned this on Monday but couldn’t get myself to ask you out until yesterday. Believe it or not, but even someone like me gets nervous,” Pads replied, and Remus tried his best not to imagine a nervous Pads walking up and down his home, trying to figure out how to ask him out.

Their conversation from that point on was really lovely. They talked about how Remus moved away from Cardiff and how big of a change it was for him not to see Welsh signs anywhere and then went on to talk about Pads throwing the chewing gum against the badly printed out picture of England and how hard it was for him to figure out if Blackpool was actually the place to move to. They also agreed that it was great that they both ended up there because otherwise, they wouldn’t have started chatting.

As the waiters got their cocktails and Pads slipped the nervous, young boy a tenner, Remus got to check out the man in front of him properly. His tattoos were even more beautiful in real life. Several cryptic-looking symbols covered his knuckles and Remus had to stop himself from grabbing the man’s hand to inspect them more closely. His eyes followed his arms and stopped beneath his collar bone, where a beautiful arrangement or flowers were tattooed on the man’s chest.

“My eyes are up here,” Pads grinned and watched Remus.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, I just ... have never gotten to sit across to anyone who had as many tattoos as you have,” Remus confessed and grabbed his glass.

“Well, I’ve never been on a date with anyone who I could make blush as many times as I’ve made you in under thirty minutes. Here’s to first times, then!” Pads exclaimed and raised his glass and they toasted. Remus’ cocktail was heavenly. The raspberry wasn’t too sweet, and the mint blended the flavours beautifully.

“If your drink is only half as good as mine, it must be amazing!”, Pads told him and leaned back in his seat.

“It’s really good. Wanna swap for a sip?”, Remus suggested and raised his eyebrow. The handsome gentleman in front of him smiled brightly once again.

“I thought you’d never ask,”

Remus switched their glasses and watched the long-haired man wrap his long fingers around the stem of the glass before he brought it up to his lips and tried the drink. Remus decided that he could watch the other man forever.

As Remus followed him suit, a quiet satisfactory moan-like sound left Pads’ lips.

“I take it back, yours is better. Almost as sweet as you”, Pads said with a smile on his face. Remus shook his head and put the man’s glass down again.

“Yours is nice too though, don’t talk down on it like that. I bet it has feelings, too”, Remus laughed and politely smiled at the waiter who brought them their menus. After close inspection, they ordered several finger-food esque starters.

Even though he tried to stop himself, he leaned forward and tried to look as good looking as possible when he said, “You know, I really like the sound of all the things we just decided to get, but I only really have eyes for the snack sitting right in front of me”.

Pads let out a loud, unexpected laugh. Remus smiled once again. He was happy that his words could affect the man the way they did.

“That’s a good one, holy shit. I gotta write that down!” Pads said after he collected himself and sat back up properly. Remus didn’t even realise that he had leaned back because he was so focused on Pads’ bright, warm eyes pulling him in.

Their conversation went on like that for a while, them complimenting each other until they were both unable to form a sentence until their food came. Apparently, other people didn’t just get multiple starters, but Remus couldn’t care less. He was happy. He hadn’t felt this happy and free in a long time and was going to make the most of it.

“So my mate’s son, who I’ve told you about, made a new friend in kindergarten,” Remus mentioned as he was dipping his nacho into the guacamole in front of him.

“Oh yeah? What’s he like?” Pads responded curiously as he grabbed some of the chips and put them in his mouth.

“He said that the boy was shy at first but opened up quickly. Also, he apparently is very, very pale. The boys have funny nicknames for each other, too,” the blonde responded.

Pads smirked. Why was he smirking like that? Did he say something wrong?

“Is your mate’s friend called Harry by any chance?”

Remus raised his eyebrow and got some shrimp on his fork while he nodded.

“There’s something I haven’t mentioned to you yet,” Pads started after he took a big swig of his cocktail, finishing it in one go before he signalised to the waiter that he wanted another one.

“The real reason why I left London was because of my brother. You see, my family is horrible and it doesn’t have a great reputation there so I wanted him to grow up in a place where he would be far away from them and have a life of his own,” he continued and smiled at Remus, who was nodding reassuringly, loving the fact that Pads was comfortable enough to tell him something that seemed to be a sensitive topic to him.

“So when I arranged for Regulus, that’s his name, by the way, to go to that kindergarten, I hoped for the best. I wasn’t sure what I’ve gotten us into, but I kept my head up, so when that guy at the front desk-“

“Peter, his name is Peter,” Remus added while he finished the small tray of olives.

“Yeah, him, so when he told me that Reggie had made a friend, I was so fucking happy, and when I went around to that little function they had yesterday, it was really fun to get to know the little guy. Lily, I think that’s what her name was, seemed really sweet, too,” Pads concluded as he picked up some of the tomatoes and mozzarella with his fork.

It was bizarre to see how intertwined their lives were already. As if they were meant to be, Remus thought and smiled softly into his drink.

“Yeah, Harry won’t ever shut up about Regulus, though he’s only ever said his proper name once, I think. Anyway, I’m glad Regulus has someone other than you now. Not that you’re not awesome, and an amazing brother on top of that, but having friends is lovely, too,” Remus said and watched Pads’ expression become softer and softer by each word that he spoke.

“Thank you, really, that means a lot,” the black-haired man replied.

“It’s crazy though, right? How quickly kids can just be friends, as if they’d known each other for ages,” Remus rambled as the waiters came and cleared their table. Remus ordered a second drink while Pads’ had just arrived.

“Very crazy indeed, but I gotta say, I kind of feel that way about you. I don’t want to overstep the line by saying this, but I’ve never really connected with anyone the way we have. I never expected to find anyone like you when I got that app. I thought I’d just text some weird creep and then delete the application a day later, but then I saw you and your godforsaken smile and I was blown away, and now I’m sitting in front of the world’s most beautiful man in a beautiful restaurant while I'm enjoying great drinks and delicious food,”

Did he hear that correctly? Did Remus just witness a man confessing his attraction to him in real life?

It took him a second to register what Pads had said, which seemed to have come across as uncomfortableness because Pads smile turned into a frown just before the man reached out and held onto Remus’ hand. His long fingers wrapped around Remus’ hand seamlessly. As if their sole purpose was to hold Remus’ hand.

“Shit, I didn’t mean to make you uneasy, please forgive me,” Pads said with worry in his voice.

Remus gathered his thoughts and looked into the piercing grey eyes of the man in front of him.

“You have no reason to apologise. I ... I find you very attractive, too. Nobody’s ever told me that they found me beautiful in real life before, so I’m still a little at loss for words,”

Pads laughed softly. Even though the moment had just passed, he continued to hold onto Remus’ hand and Remus absolutely loved it. As Remus got his second drink, Pads squeezed his hand reassuringly just before they clunk the glasses together and took a swig of their drinks.

“So, I think I never asked you what you worked as,” Remus said, the sentence being more of a statement than a question.

“I don’t think so either. I’m an artist and I do commissions and such, but I don’t want to go into detail or show you any pictures now because I’d rather focus on you than my job, but now you know,” his date responded and Remus left it at that. If Pads didn’t want to talk about it, Remus was not going to force him.

“Do all of your tattoos have meanings?” Remus asked to change the topic.

Pads smiled appreciatively and shook his head, letting his thumb caress the back of Remus’ hand.

“Most of them do, but quite a few of them just looked cool or I got when I was drunk. I also have a few of Reggies scribbles on my legs. Some of my tattoos cover up scars, but I won’t drop that stuff on you now. My favourite one is this star I have on my thumb, though,”

Remus was intrigued with the little piece of information he got about Pads’ past but was not going to try and find out more because he was sure Pads would be uncomfortable with it.

“I tattooed it on myself, and even though it’s not the prettiest tattoo I have, it reminds me that I’m not alone out there,”

They continued to talk about the planets and the universe while they were finishing their drinks.

“Oh, I think I never asked you about it, but Pads is a cool name. Is it your full name?” the blonde asked innocently.

Sirius shifted in his seat but smiled at the other man.

“It actually is short for Padfoot; my friend Mary came up with it. It’s not the name I was given at birth, but I only associate bad times with that name so I avoid it as best as I can. I’ve been Pads ever since I was eleven and not even Regulus calls me by the other name,” Pads explained, and to Remus’ disappointment, let go of his hand to stretch his arms out.

Remus knew better than to go in on that either. He was happy to have learned about the aspects Pads was ready to share with him and was not going to ask the man about things that didn’t concern him.

“Well, I like it either way. It suits you,”

Pads winked at him and licked his lips, which sent a shiver down Remus’ spine. How was that man do irresistibly beautiful and respectful at the same time?

Remus quickly excused himself to go to the toilet and did his business while texting Marlene how it was going. She responded with way too many emojis.

As he got back, Pads had already paid the bill. Remus was about to complain, but Pads took his hand back in his and winked again.

“You’ll pay next time, alright? Then we won’t owe each other anything,”

“Is that your way of saying you want to see me again?”

“I’ll tell you what, Sherlock Holmes, you are unbelievable,”

They both laughed and sat there chatting for another few minutes before Pads checked his watch.

“Fuck, it’s 12 already? Where has the time gone?”

“I’m just great company I guess”

“That you are,”

Pads pulled out his phone and texted someone something before he looked back up to the blonde and smiled.

“Wanna get out of here?”

Remus hadn’t realised how tired and full he was until that very moment. He nodded tiredly and got up, but before he could put on his suit jacket, Pads was there to help him like the gentleman he was.

They thanked everyone on their way out and walked back to Pads’ car.

Pads once again opened the door for him and once they both were sat in the car, he offered him a mint. Remus accepted the offer and mindlessly sucked on the little sweet.

As they drove through town, Pads put his hand on Remus’ left thigh and looked at him as if to ask ‘is that okay?’. Remus gave him the kindest smile he could and received a squeeze back. They drove back in comfortable silence while Freddie Mercury was serenading them until they arrived at Remus’ apartment complex.

Pads had insisted on walking him home.

“Thank you for this lovely evening,” Remus whispered as they reached his front door and took Pads’ hands in his.

“It’s been my pleasure, really. You were wonderful tonight,” Pads whispered back and looked into Remus’ eyes.

Pads eyes were so beautiful to Remus. They were cold and distant but sharp and warm at the same time. He let himself get lost in them. This was his favourite moment of the evening.

Pads had moved closer to him and before he knew it, the black-haired man’s hand cupped his jaw. His thumb caressed his cheek softly, sending shivers all over Remus’ body. Remus’ eyes were fixed on Pads’ soft, plump-looking lips. He needed to know what they felt like against his own.

“Remus?” Pads whispered, their lips being mere millimetres away from each other.

“Yes, Pads?”

“May I kiss you?”

“From now on, you don’t have to ask,”

Pads grinned from cheek to cheek and after what felt like an eternity, leaned in to kiss Remus.

His lips were soft against his own. He tasted like mint and the sweet cocktail he had been drinking. Remis couldn’t get enough of it.

Remus opened his mouth slightly to give the other man the permission to deepen the kiss while Pads wrapped his arms around his body, one hand resting just above his butt and the other holding onto his back, giving him a sense of security.

The blonde loved being held like that. Never before had any guy he went out with treated him with so much care and appreciation. Remus made a mental note not to ever go out with anyone who treated him less than how Pads was treating him. In the back of his mind, he hoped that he wouldn’t have to go out with anyone but Pads in the near future. Maybe even the far future.

As Pads kissed along Remus’ jawline, Remus closed his eyes, put his hands on the man’s chest and let himself be hypnotised by the soft breath of the other and the little sounds he made while he was kissing Remus.

“As much as I love kissing you right now, and I promise, love is an understatement,” Pads began and raised his head again so that they could look at each other.

“I have to go home, otherwise Reggie’s babysitter will probably curse me,”

Remus sighed but felt himself nod.

“Of course, of course. One last kiss?”, Remus said and got Pads to grin again.

“This will be the first of many last kisses if you want it,” Pads mumbled and held onto Remus’ neck as if to hold him in place while he kissed him.

While the first kiss was fuelled by passion and anticipation, the second was a promise.

“I’d love that,” Remus whispered against the other man’s lips and kissed him back just as passionately.

After a couple of moments had passed by where they were busy snogging in the hallway of the apartment complex Remus’ lived in, Pads let go of him and left after wishing him a good night and promising him that he’d text him once he’d arrive at home safely.

Remus crashed into his flat and let himself fall onto his couch.

Holy shit.

Twenty minutes later he had taken off his clothes, had washed and brushed his teeth before he facetimed James from the comfort of his bed.

James picked up after three rings and raised his eyebrows.

_ “Hey Moony, what’s up? Oh wait, the date, the date! Lily, come here! Date update!” _

Remus laughed at how excited his friend was.

“Yes, right, hi Remus, now tell us everything!”

The couple was now snuggled up on their bed and stared at the tiny phone screen in anticipation.

_“So he picked me up and we drove to Nico’s and-“_

_ “Nico’s? How rich is that guy? Did you get yourself a sugar daddy?” _

“Shut up James, let the man speak!”

_“Thanks, Lils. But I was just as shocked as you were, James. He just said ‘I know a guy’”_

_ “Maybe he’s in the mafia” _

“James”

_“Anyway, we had great drinks and even better food and told each other many stories about home and holy shit Lily, how could you not tell me that he was Regulus’ brother?”_

“He’s Regulus’ brother?”

_“Yes, he is! And you met him yesterday! You spent the entire afternoon together!”_

“Shit, I didn’t make that connection, but I think you’ve never even mentioned his name before, so who’s really at fault here?”

_ “What even is his name?” _

_“Pads, short for Padfoot. Long story, apparently. Not his real name, but he’s been Pads ever since he was young and his real name only carries bad memories, I think, so Pads it is. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and kind of already talked about a next date”_

“That’s amazing, sweetie!”

_ “Yes, well-done mate! When will that be?” _

_“Soon, I reckon. We also kissed when he drove me home. And fuck me, that man knows how to kiss. It’ll be a restless night for me tonight, not gonna lie”_

“Remus!”

_ “That’s what I’m talking about, mate” _

They went on to discuss every single detail before they got too tired to chat and said their goodbyes, knowing that they’d see each other again on Monday.

Just as he was about to go to bed himself, he received a message from Pads.

**Pads: Sorry for the late reply, love. The babysitter and Reg fell asleep on the couch so I had to carry him to bed and he refused to sleep on his own so now he’s sleeping next to/ on top of me. Meant to text you earlier but I got busy.**

**Pads: Thanks again for the amazing evening. I had a lot of fun and loved every bit of it. I can’t wait to see you again x**

**Pads: only if you want that, of course**

Attached to the messages was a picture of the little boy sleeping next to Sirius, his head resting on the man’s tattooed chest as if it were a pillow. Remus was only slightly jealous of him.

_Remus: I enjoyed myself a lot too. Especially the kiss_

_Remus: Can you blame him though? He’s too cute to say no to and also sharing a bed with you doesn’t sound too bad not gonna lie_

_Remus: And yes, I’d love to see you again too, but only if you kiss me like that again. My lips are still tingling_

**Pads: I solemnly swear that I will**

**Pads: I’ll put my phone away now, have a great night, beautiful**

_Remus: You too, Padsie._

**Pads: Padsie?**

_Remus: Yes, just roll with it_

**Pads: You’re cute**

_Remus: So are you_

_Remus: Goodnight :)_

**Pads: sweet dreams x**

Remus plugged the charger into his phone and set it aside. Letting the entire evening play through his mind over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope u guys liked it !!! tell me your thoughts in the comments :)


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